Help Keep Astoria SAFE

Over the weekend of June 10-11, one publicized hate crime occurred in the East Village. Two other, less publicized incidents occurred in Astoria. In one incident, a man was attacked outside the 36th Avenue subway station, both physically and with slurs, and bones in his face were broken. In a separate incident, three neighbors were attacked by about eight other men at 34th and Broadway. After a physical altercation involving slurs about race and sexuality, the men then chased them with a baseball bat. One man was refused entrance at the St. James Deli at 34th Street and 34th Avenue and later had to be hospitalized for the injuries he sustained. (NOTE: See http://astorians.com/index.php?topic=2336.0 for the discussion about the 34th Street incident.)While the police are treating these as hate crimes, we as a community need to join together to make sure that these incidents remain isolated and do not become a trend. This is an issue that affects everyone, regardless of race, gender, or orientation. We all want our neighborhood to be safe and comfortable for all.

What Can You Do?
1. Create an account on http://www.astorians.com. Under "Community Groups & Social Networking", you should see a thread (or possibly soon a board) concerning these issues and the community response. Read, discuss, get involved, stay aware as things develop.
2. Call Cesar, the community affairs officer for the 114th Precinct, at 718-626-9327. Tell him that you want this issue to be on the agenda for the precinct community council meeting on June 27.
3. Attend the precinct community council meeting on June 27 at 7 p.m. at Ricardo's By the Bridge (21st St and 24th Ave). While the police response to the incidents has been attentive (under pressure from some political groups), a more proactive response is needed from the 114th Precinct to prevent further incidents.
4. Make sure that your voting address matches your current Astoria address.
5. Call 311 when you see quality of life issues in the neighborhood. Overflowing trash, merchants ignoring problems, graffiti, fights. Mayor Bloomberg does respond to clusters of repeated 311 calls, and more calls will mean more resources. Often these issues will lead to more serious quality of life issues.
6. Stay tuned to astorians.com for an upcoming flyering campaign to raise awareness. Once it begins, print out the flyers and talk to your building management or any businesses that you frequent about posting them. We want residents to be aware, and we want businesses to advertise being part of the solution.
7. Boycott the St. James Deli at 34th St. and 34th Ave., who have been unresponsive to inquiries about the incident. Some neighbors are looking to reignite the old Safe Havens program to identify local businesses that are willing to provide shelter to neighbors in distress. As this develops, be aware of which businesses are involved and demonstrate that you support businesses that support their community. Information should be available at http://www.astorians.com.
9. Forward this email to anyone you know in Astoria.
10. ...AND THEN STAY INVOLVED! Part of the problem is the disconnect that Astoria neighbors feel. Many of us are renters, many of us spend much of our time in Manhattan, and it's easy to ignore the community around us. Get to know other people, talk on the board, come to the meetings, come to the social activities. Building a sense of community and unity in the neighborhood will go a long way towards creating the infrastructure we need to combat future problems.
Doing any one of these things will help - doing all of them will go even farther. Please feel free to distribute this to anyone you know in the neighborhood. Post on blogs, forward to friends.

Thanks to SpecialK for the time and effort putting this together